Zimbabwean president gets cholera vaccine, urges others to do same

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and members of his cabinet received doses of Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) to encourage people in areas being targeted by health officials to get vaccinated, state media reported on Wednesday.

Cholera is an infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and even death if untreated, though it is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae.

This came after the death of no fewer than 54 people, mainly in Harare, following a cholera outbreak that hit the country in September.

The government has rolled out an OCV programme in the city’s high-density suburbs as part of measures to contain the spread of the disease and is targeting no fewer than 1.4 million people.